First, select the board.
To make watermark woodcut prints, several pieces of plywood with the same size are usually prepared according to the needs of color matching.
Basswood board has fine and uniform fibers and moderate wood hardness, so it is an ideal board for watermark woodcarving. At present, it is used as a carved board. The fly in the ointment is that the fiber is long and not suitable for carving fine pictures. If fine lines are carved, pear slices can be embedded in the basswood board to make up for the deficiency.
Fraxinus mandshurica board or other board with clear texture can make use of its texture to enhance its expressive force. For example, some watermark woodcuts use the natural texture of wood surface to print the flowing effect.
Second, the draft
The drawing method of watermark woodcut is basically the same as that of mimeographed color woodcut, but we should pay attention to the characteristics of watermark woodcut, draw directly on white paper with ink according to the idea, and fill in the color. When drawing a manuscript, we should pursue the charm of ink and wash, and draw the expected effect of shade change. Charcoal, pencils, etc. Can be used to draw monochrome watermark woodcut sketch. When painting watermark woodcut, the shape should be simple, and the lines should be thick and not too thin. Because watermark woodcut has strong ink permeability when rubbing, lines that are too dense will be blurred.
Third, the last edition
After the draft is completed, it can be printed in color separation. The process of color separation printing is basically the same as mimeographed woodcut. Because the watermark woodcut rubbing tool is simple, it can be partially rubbed on the plate. The previous edition should be adjusted to the main edition first, and then to the sub-edition. The structure and lines of the main engraving work, the volume and color of the secondary engraving image, etc. In practice, you can also flexibly grasp the relationship between the main page and the auxiliary page. If necessary, you can break the concept of main page and auxiliary page and mix the layout.
Fourth, sculpture
The engraving method of watermark woodcut is basically the same as that of mimeograph woodcut, but due to the different printing methods, the following points should be paid attention to when engraving:
1. Watermark wood is carved in rubbings. When the wood is wet, it will expand, and the printed lines will often become thicker. When carving, pay attention to carving slightly thinner.
2. Watermark woodcuts are generally deeper than mimeographed woodcuts, otherwise the shallow lines are easy to accumulate water and change color when printed, which will confuse the picture.
3. There is no need to shovel the large blank bottom of the watermark woodcut, just carve an interval of about 1 cm around the outline.
4. Watermark woodcut coloring tool is very small, and it can be colored in a small area of the layout. Therefore, overprinting of various colors can be combined on one or two pages, which not only saves plates, but also increases the accuracy of overprinting. Some large overprinter colors, if you don't need to show the outline and knife method, you don't need to engrave them, just draw the overprint position on the plate. Sometimes using this method to represent virtual objects such as clouds and distant mountains can obtain natural and moist effects.
Five, choose paper
Watermark woodcut paper requires strong water absorption, commonly used jade plate, folder, filter paper, paper and so on. When choosing Xuan paper, we should choose Yuxuan and Jiaxuan with white and dull paper, fine paper grain and uniform paper thickness. The pictures printed on this paper will have rich layering and moisture, and will not make the picture gloomy. There are two kinds of filter paper: medical filter paper and industrial oil filter paper. The former is thin and thin, while the latter is thick and thick. Paper-based paper is a kind of paper used by printing houses to type by hand. There are many kinds of paper, so you should choose the one with fine paper grain and white color. These papers are well mastered and can achieve a strong color effect.
In addition, there are other absorbent paper and handmade clay paper, which can be tried out. Some papers rub well.
Sixth, choose pigments.
Water-based pigments, such as Chinese painting color, watercolor, gouache, calligraphy and painting ink, should be used to print watermark woodcuts. The color of Chinese painting and water is transparent and the effect is moist. Water pink color is strong, uniform and strong in coverage. If the water pink is to be printed thoroughly, the pigment can be diluted and printed a little less.
Generally, gouache black, watercolor black and calligraphy and painting ink are used for black. Painting and calligraphy ink mixed with watercolor and gouache pigments is not easy to penetrate and has a good Mo Yun.
Seven, rub
The difference between watermark woodcut rubbing and mimeograph lies in "mobilizing the enthusiasm of water". In the printing process, the paper and plate should always maintain ideal humidity to ensure the normal rubbing.
Wet paper method includes wet clamping method and wet spraying method.
Wet method can humidify evenly, and multiple sheets of paper can be humidified at one time, but it takes a long time, about several hours. Wet the paper the night before and use it the next morning. The specific method is: overlap a layer of wet newspaper with a layer of dry printing paper, and then press it with wooden boards. If the weather is dry, it needs to be covered with plastic film. This method is suitable for smaller pictures and more rubbings at one time.
Tidal spraying method is suitable for current tidal use. The specific method is: spray the paper completely with a watering can or sprayer, and the finer and more uniform the sprayed water droplets, the better, forming a mist. The paper should be smooth, sprayed evenly, and not wet or wet. After spraying water, wait a little while, let the water slowly and evenly distribute to every part of the paper, and then start rubbing.
You also need to spray the printing plate evenly before printing.
The sequence of watermark woodcut rubbing operation is as follows:
1. Put the wet printing paper on the plate and mark it against the mark.
2. Cover the wet newspaper on the printing paper, press it with paperweight, keep the humidity, and open the printing paper.
3. Double-sided printing paper, quickly lining a Zhang Qian newspaper on the printing paper, using a bamboo shoot skin eraser, with even and moderate force. Usually it takes two or three times to print a color and rub it repeatedly until the color is printed on the screen.
4. After printing one edition, you can continue to work, put the second edition and the third edition, align the marks, color and print them respectively until the work is completed.
Watermark uses water-based pigment, and the chromaticity of water-based pigment will change when it is wet and dry, so it is too late to color. In particular, black must be printed. To adopt the method of thin color and multi-rhyme, you must not accumulate too many thick colors on the plate at one time, so that the colors overflow and destroy the picture.
In the process of watermarking, we must always master the humidity of paper and board, and properly spray water and add moisture in the middle of rubbing. The paper that needs strong osmosis is wet, and the paper that doesn't need osmosis is dry.
After the work is finished, put it on a clean plate and clip it up to dry.